Nature of Our Homeland - Environmental Education 

We have organized this class to help students become more familiar with the natural environment around them. Half of the two-hour weekly class is conducted outdoors by an instructor from the nearby Kiritappu Shitsugen Center.
The class is characterized by the following two approaches. One is to have students use their five senses. Since students deal with real objects and not photographs, they can actually see, touch and smell what they are studying. In addition, they can experience wildlife habitats firsthand, by seeing the land and experiencing climatic factors such as temperatures in these areas. However, students also encounter the severity of nature. Sometimes thick mist sets in and it becomes so chilly that they almost catch colds. These experiences, however, also seem to have helped them increase their understanding of the reality of nature.
The other approach is to help students recognize the importance of encounters. In addition to encounters with nature, students are given many opportunities to meet people from various walks of life. Through these experiences, I think the students have been able to directly learn about other people's thinking and feeling, enhancing their own understanding of and sensitivity toward nature.

Hiroshi Ontsuka
Teacher at Kiritappu High School,
Hokkaido

Simultaneous Survey of Current State of Inhabitation of Japanese Cranes

This annual survey was started in 1952 and is conducted simultaneously throughout Hokkaido at fixed times, primarily in the eastern part of the island, to study populations of Japanese Cranes in order to understand the current state of inhabitation of these cranes. Since 1989, the survey has been conducted biannually - in early December and late January - by the employees of municipal governments, staff members for wildlife protection, Japanese Crane caretakers and feeders. Elementary and junior high school students and many other local residents also participate in the December survey.
For the first survey in 1952, 33 Japanese Cranes were observed. For the survey conducted in January this year, 709 cranes (609 adults and 100 young adults) were observed, a record high since the first survey. A total of 703 individuals were observed in the Kushiro Subprefectural region where the bird winters. Of these birds, 84% were found in Akan Town (196 birds) and Tsurui Village (394), both of which have main feeding stations for the crane.

Environment and Lifestyle Division,
Kushiro Subprefectural Office, 
Hokkaido Prefectural Government

Kushiro-shitsugen National Park Little Rangers Conduct Children's Research 

The "little rangers" consist of elementary and junior high school students from the Kushiro region. As their first outdoor activity, the little rangers conducted "children's research" of Kushiro-shitsugen in August 1998.
The little ranger registration system was established by the Kushiro-shitsugen National Park Liaison Association, which was organized by branch offices of the Environment Agency and the Hokkaido Government, as well as municipal governments located around the marsh.
Members of the little rangers are mainly elementary school children from the 4th to 6th grades. This system aims to help familiarize them with Kushiro-shitsugen and increase their understanding of the natural environment. There are now 11 rangers.
They have already conducted various activities including "children's meetings," in which participants discussed the conservation of Kushiro-shitsugen, and "opinion exchanges" with the Mayor of Kushiro City.
For the first children's outdoor research activity, the rangers were divided into two groups, with one group watching wild birds and the other observing flowers in the marsh. Each group compiled the results into wall newspapers and all the rangers gave presentations.

Kushiro-shitsugen National Park
Liaison Association

Town of Akkeshi
 

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